Shooting victim's story was cover-up, police say

To cover her unauthorized absence from school, a 14-year-old girl made up a story that she was shot Monday when caught in the cross-fire of a gunfight in West Baltimore, police said.

Agent Arlene Jenkins, a police spokeswoman, said last night that Stacey Kennedy, of the 2000 block of Hollins St., was actually shot by a 15-year-old boy who was playing with a Colt .45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun inside a house in the 800 block of Carberry Lane.

Jenkins said no charges were expected to be placed against the girl, a student at Harlem Park Middle School, but handgun charges may be placed against the boy.

Originally, the girl told police that she was walking home from school about 3 p.m. Monday and was in the 1500 block of Harlem Ave. where she found herself in the middle of a gunfight between two men.

Although a bullet grazed her neck, the girl told police, she continued to walk several blocks to her home, where relatives called an ambulance.

She was held overnight at the University of Maryland Medical Center and released yesterday evening.

Jenkins said police investigating the girl's story found inconsistencies in what she reported and what was learned from residents of the 1500 block of Harlem Ave. and other sources.

After at least one interview with police, Jenkins said, the girl admitted that she didn't attend school Monday, but instead spent part of the day with other youths at the home of a boy in the 800 block of Carberry Lane.

Jenkins said the investigation revealed that the weapon went off while the boy was playing with the gun, the property of his aunt.

The bullet passed through the side of the girl's neck and buried itself in a door jamb, where it was later found by police, who also confiscated the weapon.

Lt. Kenneth Bennett, of the Western District, said the boy pulled back the gun's slide, thus inserting a bullet in the chamber, then removed the clip.

"He apparently forgot a round was in the chamber," Bennett said, "and when he cocked the gun and pulled the trigger, it went off."